Spicy Slow Cooker Chili

Today, we’re talking chili. Meat chili. Chili with beans. Chili with, dare we say it, heat. Spark. Spunk. Little smoky. Little sweet. Chili waiting for you when you get home from a long day. Chili of your dreams. It’s cold out there. Don’t let the jalapeno garnish scare you off, our chili is here with open arms.

Why is chili so perfect? There’s no wrong answer. It’s bowl food. It’s stew. You can put it over spaghetti (? Allegedly?) And for our recipe we’re making it in a slow cooker, and that rocks. While you make your normal eggs and bacon in the morning, just brown your meat and sweat (sorry, we hate that term too) the vegetables in a different pan at the same time. Easy-peasy. Browning the meat ahead of time helps get a better, more even texture on the meat, and also adds a little bit of flavor. Warming the vegetables in the same pan will help to release some of their fragrance, and they’ll also better marry with the ground beef and turkey (Jeff used half and half to keep the calories low but still have beef fattiness- you can do all beef or all turkey if you prefer one flavor over the other). Speaking of flavor, let’s talk about our El Paso Chili Powder. We’ve got a whole bunch of chili powder seasonings, like the San Antonio and Sweet Chili (both coincidentally also salt-free), but the El Paso is our go to if we want our flavor to have a sizzle and kick of heat. Hand blended with Ancho, onion, cayenne (90,000 SHU) garlic, chipotle “Morita,” allspice, and Mexican oregano. The flavors of the Morita chile will be reinforced with some actually rehydrated chile later on, and fun fact! Dried Poblano chiles are called Ancho chiles. So our chili has actually two chiles that make double appearances.

More flavor abounds, as Chef Jeff also used Mexican Chorizo Seasoning and Smoked Salt to add even more complexity to the dish. Our Mexican Chorizo is blended with Ancho, cumin, garlic, coriander, salt, black pepper, Mexican oregano, thyme, Ceylon cinnamon, cloves, and bay leaves. More pepper-y than overly spicy, the cinnamon and herbs in this blend helped to make our ground turkey more interesting. If you already have seasoned turkey sausage in your refrigerator you could also just use that and break up the links, but Jeff wanted to use this seasoning since it doesn’t get enough love.

In addition to the Mexican Chorizo, Jeff went with Smoked Oak Flake Salt to further reinforce our chili’s “bad boy” feel. Our smoked flake salts are from a cold smoking process, and are great both folded into recipes like this one or just as a finishing salt that’ll add a little bit of crunch (like with our Hoppin’ John recipe). As far as the beans go, it’s totally up to you. You can go with black beans if you want to feel a little southwest, but Jeff did kidney beans since pinto beans kind of gross him out as far as their texture.

This chili doesn’t necessarily NEED a garnish with how much taste it has already, but we love a fresh and bright complement to something rich and hearty. We went bold with fresh sliced jalapenos, but we balanced those with a dollop of sour cream too. Instead of using spoons, Jeff served ours with a plate of tortilla chips so we could enjoy it like a delicious and meaty salsa. Yay Chili!